Spooky Imagination
by KinHiromi
Summary: The another day when Momoi is bored, though it is the night-time. For killing the boredom, she decides to travel into their scary imaginations, with their friends. Rated T for language, and spookiness.
1. What is Dead?

Title: Spooky Imagination.

Anime: Kuroko no Basket.

Summary: The another day when Momoi is bored, though it is the night-time. For killing the boredom, she decides to travel into their scary imaginations, with their friends. Rated T for language, and spookiness.

Chapter 1: 'What is Dead?'

Words: 2219.

Rated T: for language and yaoiness.

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Momoi looked around, feeling as bored as ever, not knowing what to do. An idea crossed her mind, "Guys!" she screamed, making the six guys, who were sitting and eating some fresh food, jump. "Eh, I am sorry, I did not mean to…" she bitterly chuckled, "by the way… aren't you guys bored too?" Hopes in her eyes were killing them.

"Not this shitty Truth or Dare again, Satsuki…" Aomine, both growled and glared at her and the pinkette immediately returned it back, "No, not it, idiot! And it was not _shitty_, okay?"

"Hmm, whatever…" the tanned man growled again, and lay on the floor.

Momoi ignored her grumpy friend and turned to the others, "Guys… aren't you bored too?"

Everyone was silent, before Kuroko forced a slight smile, "I think, I am kind of bored too."

The pinkette's eyes shone, "Aw, Tetsu-kun. I can always rely on you, can't I?"

Before Kuroko had the time to nod, Kise jumped up from his seat, "I am bored too~ Akashicchii!~" he starting whining and turned to their red haired captain, who just spared him a glance.

"What do you guys think?" Akashi looked at the purple and green haired guys, who understood the red head's question and nodded, Akashi sighed. "Alright… Up for any ideas, Satsuki?"

"Aww, you guys rock!" Momoi exclaimed, making Aomine and Akashi twitch their eyes. "I have an idea!"

-xxx-

Everyone was in silence, watching with un-amused faces.

"Momoi-san… do you really find it amusing?" the bluenette, once again, broke the silence.

"Ummm…" Momoi groaned, "Just watch, in a few minutes, it will become scary and interesting, I promise!" No one seemed to believe in her.

"Satsuki," Akashi looked at her, "are you up for any ideas?" The pinkette was about to say 'no', when Akashi once again spoke up, "If you don't, I am afraid, we will be staying bored for the whole night."

This took Momoi's attention, "No!" she looked down at her laps, thinking of anything, that would combat the boredom, she couldn't think of anything. Then, her attention turned to the scary movie, _scary_… SCARY! "Guys!" the pinkette cheerfully, looked at the guys, "what if we make up or tell some stories about us?"

"Looks good." Akashi smiled, and the others nodded.

-xxx-

They went into Aomine's room, because all of them agreed, that his was the darker and the tanned guy accepted it with a glare.

"Alright! Everyone remember to be creative!" Momoi smiled at all of them, "Who starts?"

"I will~" Murasakibara murmured, before licking his fingers.

"Oke!" Everyone sat down, most of them shivering in excitement.

"Mm, so;" Murasakibara looked confident in himself, trying to tell his best. "Now imagine, that, mm" he bite his favorite, maibou, and continued, "it is a letter and all of you are reading it. Okay?" All of them nodded, Kuroko and Momoi closing their eyes, deciding, that imagine would be more realistic like this.

"…I write this as an apology to those who are affected by my mistakes." Everyone looked surprised at Murasakibara's confidence and the serious tone he had, right now.. "I hope, that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, though I will understand if you can't." What in the world '_Murasakibara' asked for an apology?' _Kuroko smiled at his thoughts, his purple haired friend really wasn't that stupid, as he thought. The only one, who looked un-interested was the tanned guy, Aomine, lying on the floor, head on his hands. "My wife…" Murasakibara started and Aomine chuckled, _wife, _"was terminally ill and a few month ago, she died. I was very sad at the loss as she was a marvelous, caring woman. She was kind and everyone, that met her said their lives were better for it. I couldn't bear the pain through, so I did something terrible." Momoi shivered at what would come next… "I will not tell you, how I did it or how I learned to, for enough damage has been done, but I found a way to … bring her back. To raise her from the dead. I could no longer bear to be alone, and I made a terrible mistake in my loneliness.

When I finished the ritual, nothing happened. Not at first, anyway, I was about to re-bury her when I first started to hear breathing. With an understandable measure of joy. I realized, that the sound was emanating from her mouth. I had done it… At the time, I could not fully understand, what 'it' was, but in my blissful ignorance, I carried her home. She was not the same. She was no longer caring, but a primal, instinctive beast." The pinkette's yelp could be heard, making Aomine chuckle. "She howled and screamed, snarled at me whenever I passed. I was worried, not for my own sake, but for hers. She could escape. She could go out and do something to get hurt…" Murasakibara sighed, so dramatically, that almost everyone, except for Akashi and Aomine, thought it was the real story. "Then I locked her in my basement. I never meant to keep her that way. I never knew, that my actions would set a chain reaction of unfathomable horrors into action. I kept her there for as long as I could, but her screams grew more and more desperate. I was chilled to my very core by the screams of by bethrothed, and before long I stood on the rain slick precipice of insanity. I needed to do something." Murasakibara sighed, and Kuroko began to worry, if his purple haired giant really went insane, and thought, which story he was creating, was real. "As so it happened, I was not the only one to hear the screams. My neighbors began to show interest, eventually sneaking onto my estate to snoop around. I caught them in the act, and as I had no explanation for what they may have seen, I attacked them."

"Haha, not bad, Murasakibara." Aomine grinned, receiving glares from the five people and a nod from the teller.

"Don't interrupt him, Daiki."

Aomine obeyed Akashi's orders, and shut his mouth. After Aomine obliged his orders, the red head looked at Murasakibara and nodded. Murasakibara guessed what his captain meant and continued, "After attacking, I feared, that they would tell this act to the others and I locked them in the basement with my wife. This was my second mistake. The first, of course, being, that I raised her in the first place.

That night, I heard the sound of crunching bone.

Upon my awakening in the morning, I went down to check on the neighbors. One was gone, the other was wide eyed, cowering in the corner and covered in blood. Something else was off, too, though, at first, I did not know what. Then it hit me. The screams had subsided. My wife was asleep.

She had fed, and now she slumbered. All this time, the screams were of hunger. I shut the door and went to lie down.

She lasted a few more days, obviously feasting on the other neighbor. It seemed, that she only needed to eat once every few days.

Now, I am not proud of what I did next, but I didn't know what else to do.

I went out at night every few days, around the time, that only a few people would still be around. I stalked the streets and attacked people who walked alone. I took them back to my wife and left them in the basement. I often woke up from my slumber to hear their screams, cries for help. This would always rouse the beast and would never last longer than a minute or so. 10 minutes of crunching and gurgling pleas… Later the deed was done, and I could rest easy for another few days.

It was my actions, that brought about the deaths of so many, and my actions, that robbed so many of loved ones, of closure. How many torn and bloodied rags did I have to burn? How many personal effects were destroyed by my hands? I lost track of the numbers, but surely even one is too high number!" he raised his tone, making Aomine raise an eyebrow, "Eh, Murasakibara. Acting while talking is bullshit."

"Aomine-kun," Kuroko looked at Aomine, his eyebrows were near each other, "please, stop lecturing Murasakibara-kun. Your time will come and you can do whatever you want, now let Murasakibara-kun do the same."

As if Kuroko's talking made Aomine realize something, the tanned guy closed his eyes again. In reality, he wasn't really listening what Kuroko was saying, but he knew, that the bluenette wasn't pleased of his actions, and he calmed down.

Murasakibara looked at both of them, before sighing, "…I was kept awake the its screams – and it shall henceforth be referred to as 'it', for I have come to the conclusion, that this monster is not my beloved. A bight of rest for the lives of so many…

Day by day it grew stronger, its strength either increasing or returning, for I know now, was, that horrible beast was in possession of my wife's body, and as time went on I was forced to bring home more food. Bigger people. Men. Two woman. A woman and a man. Eventually, it was eating a full grown man every day.

I knew, in some dark corner of my mind, that this couldn't go on forever. I could not keep taking people. I was in danger of being caught, and, though, I deserved to be, fear took hold of me and that, I suppose, was why I let, that charade go on for as long as it did. So I decided to flee.

I had just packed my bags, when I heard a knock on my door. The police had found a trail of blood leading through the woods up to my estate and were inquiring as to whether I'd seen or heard anything suspicious. I managed to keep a cool head and talk my way out of what could have potentially been a very unpleasant situation.

As if I deserved it, the monster began screaming. It screamed louder than I had ever heard it scream before, and it sounded mad. The police instantly drew their guns and went in, thinking perhaps some horrific predatory beast had made its way into my home. They eventually found my basement's door and threw it open. Slowly, ever so slowly, they descended the stairs. I was at a loss for what to do, so I did the only thing, I could think of in the heat of the moment.

I shut the door.

Throwing the bolt across, I ran to my quarters and grabbed my bags, making for the door. The screams of the police haunt me to this every day.

I heard the sound of splintering wood as that … thing … burst out of its cell. It was now loose in the house.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me out of there, out into the streets of the town I had stalked, into a train and I left, that place far behind." Murasakibara sighed, and everyone knew, that he was close to the finish, "My old home is a ghost town now. Splashed with blood, yet no bodies remain. How I long to return to my estate, to gather up all of my research and burn it so, that this might never happen again. I have made many an attempt to do so, in fact, though every time I get near, I hear that beast's wild howls, screaming for flesh.

I know it haunts my home now. I know it wears my wife's skin, but the worst part of all this?

I let it happen." And with, that he smiled, "I am done. Did you like it?" his childish and usual voice was back.

"I did, Atsushi. I have never thought, that you could make up stories, and scare us, but you succeed in it. Now," he looked at the others, "let's see what the others will say; Tetsuya…?"

"Um," Kuroko smiled at Murasakibara, "I am honestly surprised and flattered by you, Murasakibara-kun. You can create some stories, and stuff really good. And it really was a horror story…"

"As always, we think same things. Now, Daiki." Akashi turned to Momoi.

"Honestly, Murasakibara." Aomine sat up and looked at Murasakibara, "I have… I have never thought, that you had interests in the women."

Murasakibara raised an eyebrow, "Eh? Who said, that I have?"

"You said, that you had a wife in this story."

"Mm," he opened the box of maibous, picking up one and biting it. "It was just a story."

Aomine smirked, "And right now, you have asked me something like 'who said, I have interests in woman'," he chuckled, "does that mean, you like boys? For example, Tetsu?"

"Maybe, hm."

"Both of you, shut up." Akashi had his arms crossed, "Satsuki, tell me, what you think of his story."

Momoi was glaring at Murasakibara, because of his last reply, and then nervously smiled at Akashi.

"Uhm. This was really awesome, Mukkun! But it really scared me and I think, I will have nightmares..."

Akashi smirked, "It is a beginning, Satsuki. You are just getting started."

* * *

Notes: Do you like it and was the story boring or not scary enough? ;-; Should I continue it or…? Let me know your opinions. Review! (;


	2. The Unbirth

Title: Spooky Imaginations.

Anime: Kuroko no Basket.

Chapter 2: The Unbirth.

Words: 3720.

Rated T: for language and yaoiness.

A/N: Hi guys! New update. I own nothing, except the plot. AND, have you already seen/heard, that KnB end? My heart is broken... well. Enjoy the chapter!

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_"It's a beginning, Satsuki."_ The words kept running through Momoi's head. _"You're just getting started."_ Ouch. _"If Mukkun could make up stories like this, I can't imagine, what kind of creepy stuff, the others will make."_ She shivered at the thought, and looked at the others.

"Who is gonna tell now?" Kise asked, looking at everyone in the room.

Momoi sighed, "I will make up something now!"

This made Akashi smirk, "Fine, Satsuki. Go ahead."

"Y-yes. But don't judge me, if it is bad." Momoi's voice sounded like a whine and Aomine swore, he heard a female Kise just now.

The pinkette cough, "So, I am working in the psychiatric institute and here's the introduction; Hm... I had always questioned whether or not I truly believed in the paranormal, and sometimes I wished, that I would have stayed strictly to my stubborn attitude. However, that was not the case a month ago. The event, that I want to inform people about, has shook my grounded reality like an earthquake, and has also ruptured my former co-workers' reality as well. This was not the first time I had experienced something odd and otherworldly, but it certainly did provide a new reality for myself, and the others who have experienced the same kind of paranormal occurrences. Various occurrences had occurred in my city, as well as in the suburban areas, but now it has elevated to the point where I have to tell people about it. I have to make sure I am not alone, and that I am going crazy. I hope, that someone from my city will recognize the report. If so, then you will know where to find me. I had been at my job for a month when the first incident had happened." She sighed, before looking at the others and smiling.

"Say, Satsuki." Aomine groaned from the ground, "Do you actually have the plot for it?"

Before Momoi had the time to complain, Akashi glared at the tanned teen lying on the floor. "As always, you are the one interrupting the teller, Daiki. So, shut up, before I force you to."

Aomine looked at the the captain for seconds, before sighing, "Fine, I will keep my mouth shut."

Then the red head looked at Momoi and nodded, gesturing her to continue, "And, I have written the reports! Here are they. Hm, now imagine, that I have given you some papers, which are supposed to be the reports, oke?" Everyone nodded at her.

"Satsuki, tell me," Akashi glared at Aomine, but Aomine ignored him, "is it gonna be a long story?"

Momoi looked up at the ceiling, a finger on her mouth, which probably meant, that she was thinking, then she looked at her childhood friend and smiled, "Yup!"

"Uh, shit..."

"Daiki. Shut. Up. And Satsuki, continue, no matter, what this ganguro says." Akashi seemed to be in a 'joky' mood, and Aomine didn't like it.

Momoi chuckled, "Hehe, Yes, Akashi-kun!"

Akashi smiled at his own humor, closed his eyes and crossed his arms, leaning back.

"So; The Report

Date: 6/15/14

I had just finished doing some work as staff support at a psychiatric institute in my city, and was on a dinner break making light out of some of the day's struggles. I knew, that I had a long night ahead of me, so I had packed some supplies for the night including a small book to read, a snack or two," Murasakibara opened the eyes at that, "and whatever games I had on my phone; I worked a double shift that day, and quite honestly I never got used to them. I got back to my desk and took up reading my book for a while, as most of the patients were asleep and did not need to be taken care of at the late hours.

It got to be around midnight, when one of the little girls, who had suffered from an anxiety disorder (specifically post traumatic stress disorder) was dancing around in the hall laughing. I was on the fifth floor and she was supposed to be down on third; the third floor was for children with anxiety issues. I heard her laugh echo down the hall almost hauntingly, and so I got up from my desk and went over to where the laughter was coming from, so she would not wake up the other patients. I walked down the long and dimly lit hallway; the silence of my footsteps clapped softly as I quickened my pace.

Seeing the girl dancing around as carelessly as she was, I would never assume, that she had suffered from an anxiety disorder. She danced in front of the closed stairwell and suddenly stopped and looked around her aimlessly as if she had misplaced something. For confidentiality, her name will be the pseudonym "Yumi". My-" Suddenly Momoi stopped and looked at the captain, "Are the conversations allowed?" After receiving the nod, the pinkette continued, "My conversation with Yumi went somewhat like this:

Me: 'Hi there. What are you doing up here this late?'

Yumi: 'Have you seen my friends?'

Me: 'What were you doing with your friends?'

Yumi: 'We were playing, but I lose them.' She continued to look around the hallway.

Me: 'Can you tell me what they looked like?'

Yumi: 'White!' she exclaimed while searching in the most remote places.

Me: 'Is that all? How about their face?'

Yumi: 'Uhm... Two big eyes and a small mouth. They all look the same. They got scared, because they thought you were going to yell at them."

By this time I had about enough, and walked her down back to where her room was on the third floor. I said goodnight to her and she slept fairly well, but myself... I sat anxious, because I had seen too many movies with little girls being an evil spirit. I spoke with the worker at the desk on the third floor, who had no idea, that Yumi snuck out. I heard laughing from the stairwell again, but I thought it was just the other children, that were awake. Someone else could handle it.

That was around 1:30 AM and everything from there remained normal except for the tiny white footprints marking up the floor where the girl had been dancing. The footprints were tiny, chalky white, and disappeared at the slightest gust of wind like powder. I cleaned those prints up quickly and thought someone must have been using too much foot powder. Although, no one had feet THAT tiny in my workplace. I often wondered why I never heard Yumi and the other children playing before I walked over. I should have heard them scatter.

Date: 6/17/14

On this day, I was called into another night shift due to one of the other inters not wanting to work the night shift anymore. She had worked it the same night as myself, and the night after that when I was off. Tonight, I would take her place on the third floor.

I sat quietly at my desk and talked on and off with some of my other co-workers, who would bring up the events of the previous nights. I was too afraid to think about paranormal occurrences, because it had always freaked me out, but this time it seemed to fit the mood and be more of a joke to my co-workers. So I just participated for once and talked with them about the occurrences.

I asked my fellow co-worker, Tetsu-kun," she smiled at Kuroko, and Kuroko lowered his head, _shit_. "who was pseudonym, what made the girl from last night not want a night shift again. Our conversation was very odd:

Tetsu-kun: 'Well, it seemed to me, that she didn't want to talk. She just sat there, doing nothing. I am glad, she isn't here. She never helps us control the kids.'

Me: 'Okay, so what? She just sat there, not doing anything?'

Tetsu-kun: 'Pretty much. I mean, until she began to pace up and down the halls. Then I got a bit annoyed.'

Me: 'What did she say was bothering her?'

Tetsu-kun: 'She wouldn't tell me. I made a slight noise once and she jumped out of her seat. She kept giving me angry looks after that. Then later, she stood absolutely still and refused to move until day break. She refused to interact with the kids then.'

Tetsu-kun looked up from his seat, and saw Yumi and another boy move from their rooms into the hallway. He got up from his seat quickly to talk to them, and then he kindly moved them back into their rooms. It was at that moment, when I heard the sound from the night before.

Around 11:00 PM a large crush was heard down the hall, and then some children's laughter followed it. I told Tetsu-kun, that I would handle it, and jogged down the hall to go see what trouble the children were causing, or if someone was hurt. I had walked around the entire hall, until I reached the stairwell, but I couldn't find the source of the crash or the children. I peered inside each room on my floor and found nothing suspicious. Then I went over toward one of the storage rooms and tried to open the door. It would not budge; someone must have pushed the filling cabinet over, blocking the door.

Tetsu-kun came over and helped me, slowly shove the door open, and found the place to be a complete mess. Tetsu-kun waned to look for the children who did this, but the fact of the matter was, that they would have had to done the act from the inside trapping them.

The filling cabinet was so close to the door so, that no one, especially a child, could slip out without injuring themselves stuck in the room. As we had finished cleaning the room, we began to hear the children's laugh again from down the hall. He walked out and saw the double door to the Eastern stairwell close. I never remembered hearing footsteps outside the storage room.

I ran down the hall to the stairwell on the opposite side of the hallway and hurried down the steps. Tetsu-kun went to the stairwell closed to where he was about to try and catch them. I swear, I saw a figure moving down the steps, and so I went all the way down until I could not go down any further. I was now at the bottom of floor and was left with only my own heart beat to listen to. There was a single door at the bottom with a small, square, and black window placed in the center of it. The door down here was locked tight, but I peered into the small glass window to try and see anything I could. It was just a black void in that room. Then a small white faced creature flew up like lightning in front of the window and I jumped back. I gasped took several deep breathes to try and hold myself together. That creature left the image of it in my head, which glowed an eerie white glow and smiled at me. I could not tell, what gender it was, but I still heard the muffled laughter of the children coming from that bottom room. The laughter was neither male not female, but I mixture between the two, that sounded distorted.

I made my way back upstairs and had to get some water before seeing Tetsu-kun again. He asked me, if I had found anything, but I told him I found nothing and lost the trail. I spent, the rest of the night, thinking about what I had seen. I was too scared to speak in general. I could only remember, that image in my head, and some of the odd files, that had split over in the storage room. Some of the files were missing, when I went back in to get them, the room was still in a mess. I never asked Tetsu-kun about the missing files." Momoi sighed, "Now another report, Date-"

"Someone bring the water to Satsuki." Aomine groaned, and Kise couldn't help but chuckle.

"Guys, maybe Dai-chan is joking, but I really need it. My mouth's all dry." Momoi muttered.

"Fine." Akashi said, looking at the others, when no one seemed to reply neither him nor Momoi, he looked back at the pinkette. "Continue."

"Uh... Date: 6/19/14

Thanks god, I had a day-time shift this day, or else I may have had extreme anxiety about working at night again. I needed a break; I needed someone to talk to. The day before, I had heard about some of the nurses complaining about the children who were fooling around, late at night, or possibly one of the adult patients. They had vandalized some furniture as well drew on some of the walls writing unreadable words and profanities.

I came into work and saw Yumi again as well as a few other times on my rotation. She drew me a picture of her friends, that I had asked her about earlier in the week. I thought the worry, that was welling inside of me would stop by working in the day, but I was wrong. The picture Yumi drew me was of her holding hands with a bunch of other humanoid creatures. The creatures looked similar to the being I had seen in the window of the basement floor door, two days ago. A rounded face with a semi pointed head, and a tiny body; two round dark eye holes and a tiny smile on their mouth; two arms and legs, that had tiny fingers and toes; the creatures were devoid of any other human features, that can distinguish it from another being. She drew some in a wave-like motion, that mde it seem like they were drifting in the air like a feather. I took this to show some of the other works, but they said the girl (Yumi) had suffered from slight hallucinations as of lately. One worker, and middle-aged woman, said she will deal with the situation thoroughly. I thought, the woman was very nice, but apparently (from what I learned later) she treated the younger children rather poorly. She treated Yumi very poorly, but never physically abused her.

I did not sleep well knowing, that just a few others had seen the ghostly creatures about the building, and also, that, Yumi was being treated poorly. I did not toss or turn in the night, but laid still, twitching at the slightest noise. I tried doing research on these creatures to ease my mind, but found nothing, that would calm me. That was the first 'all-nighter' I had pulled since college.

Date: 6/22/14

I came back on Monday to do my weekly night shift again. I had just eaten my dinner as usual and was just about comfortable knowing, that no accounts of the creatures had been seen over the weekend. However, that comfort was ruined, when Tetsu-kun had told me, one of the other workers (the middle aged woman) had tripped and fallen down the eastern stairwell of the institute.

The East side was the same stairwell, where I had first seen the creature. It was believed, that she had tripped down the stairwell and somehow had fallen to the basement floor. My mouth hung open while I listened to this story in disbelief. They had found her all bruised up and nearly dead at the bottom. Someone made up a rumor, that she was dragged to the bottom, because there were finger nail markings on the rubber flooring of the staircase as on the walls, which showed signs of struggle. An investigation had already been done and no traces of foul play were seen despite her body being mangled and twisted from the fall.

It was a little bit after 8:00 PM, when I heard, that an older person on the fifth floor had passed away due to heart failure. I was not responsible for those incidents, but I did have to clean up the room, after they had checked out the body and tried to resuscitate it. I walked up to the room after they cleared me to go in and clean and take out personal items and put them in a bag. A couple others were in the patient's room, while I was cleaning it up. That was when we saw the terrifying awe of what was in front of us.

A bright glow had appeared from behind me, while I was clearing out the bottom cabinets on the other side of the room from the body. I turned around, thinking, that another nurse had turned a lamp on me. I never could have been more wrong. The dead man's soul was hovering above their dead lifeless body trying to push on its chest. The scene looked like there were two of the same people in the room and the one hovering horizontally trying to re-connect with the other. The soul did something off to try (as I believe) and restart the body's physiological functions.

We all say the dead body sit up straight, head towards the floating soul, and scream at the top of its lungs an ear piecing scream. Its eyes were black and its body was stiff as a board, while it jerked as its torso in a way, that brought tears to my eyes. The soul screamed the same ear splitting scream as the body did, and a large band was heard while a flash of light illuminated the room, blinding everyone. When we all could see again there stood a small creature on the bed, where the soul and the dead body used to be. It was the creature from Yumi's pictures.

The creature floated there was looking very solemn and lonely. It did not smile, like the others. It floated like a cloud in the air from the bed onto the floor, near to where I was on the ground. I half covered my eyes with my forearm, because I did not want to look at it. It floated out of the room and down the hallway. We all followed after it. It went down into the Eastern stairwell and down the steps.

I went downstairs to the very bottom and opened up the door, that led to the dark room; it was now unlocked. Inside, the creatures stood floating amongst many others of their own kind. Some laughed, some moaned a small tone, others just sighed a ghostly sigh. They hovered up and down slowly and lazily. The room was entirely black and only the creatures could be seen. I closed the door and stood there holding the door shut with tears filling my eyes. A few other workers came down with one of the doctors, pushed me aside, and moved into the dark room. They just started into the darkness for a while, and then turned the lights on. I saw very little to what was actually in the room, but I felt a rush of wind come from the room as the lights went on. That was the last time, I had seen those creatures.

The doctor turned and looked at me, but I never dared to speak to him. In his arms were the same files, that had been lying on the floor from the previous week. I began to walk up the stairwell, after the doctor had rushed back up to them, and found a small photograph of the creature taken in an infrared light. The doctor knew something, that I did not. I wish I could have seen his entire face, but I was too scared to concentrate on him."

"Satsuki, will you ever end this shit?" Aomine asked from the floor, he was lying on.

"Aw, Dai-chan, you are so mean!" Momoi pouted, "Do not worry, it is going to end soon. Just a little conclusion."

Aomine nodded, bumping his head on the floor, groaning and the pinkette continued.

"So, the Conclusion;

I want to conclude by saying the "Unbirths," the creatures in the report, are dangerous only when provoked like a child, who has been scolded. I do feel better knowing, that I am not completely alone, but I also do feel more slightly on edge. I watch my back every now and then when I am in the city. The doctor knew something more than I had known. The photograph went missing after the night, and I had not been able to trace it whereabouts. What the Unbirths truly are is not my main priority. My main priority at this time is to find out what the doctor is really up to. Some of the workers seem to be in on it as well. After it, I have moved on the another job, that I will not disclose to the public due to my investigation. I have also found out, that the doctor had moved on from his work at the institute, and transferred to one of the main hospitals in the city. Some of my old co-workers say, that he is a traveling doctor." She took a deep breath before smiling at the others, "I am done guys. And... mind to bring me some water, please?"

When no one seemed to be affected by it, Momoi sighed and got up, "Fine, I will go. Wait for me guys~"

She left the room, and all the six guys looked dumbfounded.

"Are we really supposed to be guys?" Kuroko muttered.

"And Momoicchi the girl...?" Kise joined Kuroko in the amazement, which made the others chuckle.

"I am back!" Momoi said, hurriedly coming in, "I have to admit it, it was scary going alone..."

"You have got guts, Satsuki."

Momoi looked at her childhood friend, "And you are a coward, Dai-chan!"

"What...? Nuh," he muttered, sitting up, "I was just lazy to stand up and hey! Why should I bother myself bringing you some water?! If it was Tetsu, then I understand, but-" he registered his words and froze, receiving glares from the five people. "I-I mean..."

"Don't bother yourself explaining, Aominecchi!" Kise exclaimed, making Aomine's eyes twitch, "Who is the next?"

"I will be." He said and everyone froze.


	3. Psychosis

Title: Spooky Imaginations.

Anime: Kuroko no Basket.

Chapter 3: Psychosis.

Words: 7,173.

Rated T: for language and yaoiness.

Notes: English is NOT my NATIVE language.

* * *

All of the six people looked at the guy in disbelief.

"Are you really going to tell a story without the force, Kurokocchi?!"

Kuroko ignored Kise, which made the blonde whine, and turn to Akashi, "Is it okay if it is short...?"

Akashi nodded, "As long as you're making up one, I care about neither the length nor the plot, Tetsuya."

"Um, thank you." the bluenette said, lowering his face and hiding his blush. Both, Aomine and Kise noticed it and felt uncomfortable at how his Tetsu/Kurokocchi would blush from the others.

"So... Aomine-kun, can you please sit up?" Kuroko asked him and Aomine immediately obeyed, without realizing, which made Midorima smirk. "Once, there was a boy who loved to read. He read everything he could get his hands on, and loved going to his favorite book store. One day, the boy realized he had read everything the store had to offer. He confronted the owner, and asked him if he had anything the boy had never checked out. The owner said, that he had, and pulled out a book called "Death". He gladly sold it to the boy at a discounted price of 50$.

However, he warned the boy, never to read the front page." This made the five people having goosebumps, even Aomine shivered a little, _"Tetsu's really genius..."_he thought, and was sure, that the others were thinking similar things. "The boy returned to his house and read the book. He was content. He always wondered, what could be on that front page, it was always in the back of his mind. One day, the temptation was too much for the boy, and he flipped to the very front of the book... he dropped the book in HORROR." Momoi and Kise both were too close from hugging the others. "There, in bold print, was MSRP 7:99$."

Everyone, for once again, looked at Kuroko in disbelief.

"Kurokocchi!" Kise was the first to comment, "You scared me!"

The bluenette chuckled, "I am sorry, Kise-kun."

"Tetsu-kun is amazing!" Momoi seemed to be the second, "You know, you have lighten up my mood with this!"

"Satsuki is right, Tetsuya." Akashi smiled at Kuroko, and the bluenette returned the smile. Aomine and Kise once more, were irritated.

"Come on, guys..." Aomine said, laying down again, "It can't be counted. Tetsu make up new one," before Kuroko had time to nod, the tanned man, once again, spoke, "and longer."

"But... I am not this good with long stories..."

"I don't care just make up."

Kuroko sighed, thinking for a plot for a few seconds, then he nodded to himself and looked at Akashi. "Should I start now, Akashi-kun?"

The red haired captain nodded, and leaned back against the wall, waiting for his favorite bluenette to start telling.

"Just like Murasakibara-kun and Momoi-san, it will be on my point of view and I am "writing down" it on paper, but unlike them, it only is for myself, not sent to the others." When everyone nodded in understatement, Kuroko continued.

"**Sunday**

I am not sure, why I am writing this down on paper and not on my computer. I guess, I have just noticed some odd things. It's not, that I do not trust the computer... I just... need to organize my thoughts. I need to get down all the details somewhere objective, somewhere I know, that what I write can't be deleted or... changed... not, that, that will happen. It is just... everything blurs together here, and the fog of memory lends a strange cast to things...

I am starting to feel cramped in the small apartment. Maybe, that's the problem. I just had to go and choose the cheapest apartment, the only one in the basement. The lack of windows down here makes day and night seem to slip by seamlessly. I haven't been out in a few days, because I have been working on this programming project so intensively. I suppose, I just wanted to get it done. Hours of sitting and staring at a monitor can make anyone feel strange, I know, but I don't think that's it.

I'm not sure when I first started to feel like something was odd. I can't even define what it is. Maybe I just haven't talked to anyone in awhile. That's the first thing that crept up on me. Everyone I normally talk to online while I program has been idle, or they've simply not logged on at all. My instant messages go unanswered. The last e-mail I got from anybody was a friend saying he'd talk to me when he would get back from the store, and that was yesterday. I would call with my cell phone, but reception's terrible down here. Yeah, that's it. I just need to call someone. I am going to go outside." Kuroko looked at the others, "Do you guys like it or... I should stop?"

"No, Tetsu, it's good. Continue." Aomine growled from the floor and the others agreed. Kuroko smiled and did what his light told him to do, "Well, that didn't work so well. As the tingle of fear fades, I'm feeling a little ridiculous for being scared at all. I looked in the mirror before I went out. I figured I was just going out for a quick cell phone call. I did change my shirt, though, because it was lunchtime, and I guessed that I would run into at least one person I knew. That didn't end up happening. I wish it did.

When I went out, I opened the door to my small apartment slowly. A small feeling of apprehension had somehow already lodged itself in me, for some indefinable reason. I chalked it up to having not spoken to anyone but myself for a day or two. I peered down the dingy grey hallway, made dingier by the fact that it was a basement hallway. On one end, a large metal door led to the building's furnace room. It was locked, of course. Two dreary soda machines stood by it; I bought a soda from one the first day I moved in, but it had a two year old expiration date. I'm fairly sure nobody knows those machines are even down here, or my cheap landlady just doesn't care to get them restocked.

I closed my door softly, and walked the other direction, taking care not to make a sound. I have no idea why I chose to do that, but it was fun giving in to the strange impulse not to break the droning hum of the soda machines, at least for the moment. I got to the stairwell, and took the stairs up to the building's front door. I looked through the heavy door's small square window, and received quite the shock: it was definitely not lunchtime. City-gloom hung over the dark street outside, and the traffic lights at the intersection in the distance blinked yellow. Dim clouds, purple and black from the glow of the city, hung overhead. Nothing moved, save the few sidewalk trees that shifted in the wind. I remember shivering, though I wasn't cold. Maybe it was the wind outside. I could vaguely hear it through the heavy metal door, and I knew it was that unique kind of late-night wind, the kind that was constant, cold, and quiet, save for the rhythmic music it made as it passed through countless unseen tree leaves.

I decided not to go outside.

Instead, I lifted my cell phone to the door's little window, and checked the signal meter. The bars filled up the meter, and I smiled. Time to hear someone else's voice, I remember thinking, relieved. It was such a strange thing, to be afraid of nothing. I shook my head, laughing at myself silently. I hit speed-dial for my best friend um... Ayama-san's number, and held the phone up to my ear. It rang once... but then it stopped. Nothing happened. I listened to silence for a good twenty seconds, then hung up. I frowned, and looked at the signal meter again – still full. I went to dial her number again, but then my phone rang in my hand, startling me. I put it up to my ear.

'Hello?' I asked, immediately fighting down a small shock at hearing the first spoken voice in days, even if it was my own. I had gotten used to the droning hum of the building's inner workings, my computer, and the soda machines in the hallway. There was no response to my greeting at first, but then, finally, a voice came.

'Hey,' said a clear male voice, obviously of college age, like me. 'Who's this?'

'Kuroko Tetsuya,' I replied, confused.

'Oh, sorry, wrong number,' he replied, then hung up.

I lowered the phone slowly and leaned against the thick brick wall of the stairwell. That was strange. I looked at my received calls list, but the number was unfamiliar. Before I could think on it further, the phone rang loudly, shocking me yet again. This time, I looked at the caller before I answered. It was another unfamiliar number. This time, I held the phone up to my ear, but said nothing. I heard nothing but the general background noise of a phone. Then, a familiar voice broke my tension.

'Hey?' was the single word, in Ayama-san's voice.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

'Hey, it's you,' I replied.

'Who else would it be?' she responded. 'Oh, the number. I'm at a party on Seventh Street, and my phone died just as you called me. This is someone else's phone, obviously.'

'Oh, alright,' I said.

'Where are you?' she asked.

My eyes glanced over the drab white-washed cylinder block walls and the heavy metal door with its small window.

'At my building,' I sighed. 'Just feeling cooped up. I didn't realize it was so late.'

'You should come here,' she said, laughing.

'No thanks, I don't feel like looking for some strange place by myself in the middle of the night,' I said, looking out the window at the silent windy street that secretly scared me just a tiny bit. 'I think I'm just going to keep working or go to bed.'

'Nonsense!' she replied. 'I can come get you! Your building is close to Seventh Street, right?'

'How drunk are you?' I asked lightheartedly. 'You know where I live.'

'Oh, of course," she said abruptly. 'I guess I can't get there by walking, huh?'

'You could if you wanted to waste half an hour,' I told her.

'Right,' she said. 'Okay, have to go, good luck with your work!'

I lowered the phone once more, looking at the numbers flash as the call ended. Then, the droning silence suddenly reasserted itself in my ears. The two strange calls and the eerie street outside just drove home my aloneness in this empty stairwell. Perhaps from having seen too many scary movies, I had the sudden inexplicable idea that something could look in the door's window and see me, some sort of horrible entity that hovered at the edge of aloneness, just waiting to creep up on unsuspecting people that strayed too far from other human beings. I knew the fear was irrational, but nobody else was around, so... I jumped down the stairs, ran down the hallway into my room, and closed the door as swiftly as I could while still staying silent. Like I said, I feel a little ridiculous for being scared of nothing, and the fear has already faded. Writing this down helps a lot – it makes me realize that nothing is wrong. It filters out half-formed thoughts and fears and leaves only cold, hard facts. It's late, I got a call from a wrong number, and Ayama-san's phone died, so she called me back from another number. Nothing strange is happening.

Still, there was something a little off about that conversation. I know it could have just been the alcohol she'd had... or was it even her that seemed off to me? Or was it... yes, that was it! I didn't realize it until this moment, writing these things down. I knew writing things down would help. She said she was at a party, but I only heard silence in the background! Of course, that doesn't mean anything in particular, as she could have just gone outside to make the call. No... that couldn't be it either. I didn't hear the wind! I need to see if the wind is still blowing!" Kuroko looked at the others, "I am sorry for stopping, but... should I stop it now? Because, it is going to take long."

Kise pursed his lips, and Aomine just groaned, "Come on people. Tetsu and something long? No way, it will be done, in, hm, let's see..." he started muttering some words to himself, before saying clearly, "two minutes, I guess? So, continue, Tetsu." The tanned man said, winking at Kuroko, though the bluenette didn't have the reaction, which made Aomine upset.

Without any unnecessary words, Kuroko continued.

"**Monday**

I forgot to finish writing last night. I'm not sure what I expected to see when I ran up the stairwell and looked out the heavy metal door's window. I'm feeling ridiculous. Last night's fear seems hazy and unreasonable to me now. I can't wait to go out into the sunlight. I'm going to check my email, shower, and finally get out of here! Wait... I think I heard something.

It was thunder. That whole sunlight and fresh air thing didn't happen. I went out into the stairwell and up the stairs, only to find disappointment. The heavy metal door's little window showed only flowing water, as torrential rain slammed against it. Only a very dim, gloomy light filtered in through the rain, but at least I knew it was daytime, even if it was a grey, sickly, wet day. I tried looking out the window and waiting for lightning to illuminate the gloom, but the rain was too heavy and I couldn't make out anything more than vague weird shapes moving at odd angles in the waves washing down the window. Disappointed, I turned around, but I didn't want to go back to my room. Instead, I wandered further up the stairs, past the first floor, and the second. The stairs ended at the third floor, the highest floor in the building. I looked through the glass that ran up the outer wall of the stairwell, but it was that warped, thick kind that scatters the light, not that there was much to see through the rain to begin with.

I opened the stairwell door and wandered down the hallway. The ten or so thick wooden doors, painted blue a long time ago, were all closed. I listened as I walked, but it was the middle of the day, so I wasn't surprised that I heard nothing but the rain outside. As I stood there in the dim hallway, listening to the rain, I had the strange fleeting impression that the doors were standing like silent granite monoliths erected by some ancient forgotten civilization for some unfathomable guardian purpose. Lightning flashed, and I could have sworn that, for just a moment, the old grainy blue wood looked just like rough stone. I laughed at myself for letting my imagination get the best of me, but then it occurred to me that the dim gloom and lightning must mean there was a window somewhere in the hallway. A vague memory surfaced, and I suddenly recalled that the third floor had an alcove and an inset window halfway down the floor's hallway.

Excited to look out into the rain and possibly see another human being, I quickly walked over to the alcove, finding the large thin glass window. Rain washed down it, as with the front door's window, but I could open this one. I reached a hand out to slide it open, but hesitated. I had the strangest feeling that if I opened that window, I would see something absolutely horrifying on the other side. Everything's been so odd lately... so I came up with a plan, and I came back here to get what I needed. I don't seriously think anything will come of it, but I'm bored, it's raining, and I'm going stir crazy. I came back to get my webcam. The cord isn't long enough to reach the third floor by any means, so instead I'm going to hide it between the two soda machines in the dark end of my basement hallway, run the wire along the wall and under my door, and put black duct tape over the wire to blend it in with the black plastic strip that runs along the base of the hallway's walls. I know this is silly, but I don't have anything better to do...

Well, nothing happened. I propped open the hallway-to-stairwell door, steeled myself, then flung the heavy front door wide open and ran like hell down the stairs to my room and slammed the door. I watched the webcam on my computer intently, seeing the hallway outside my door and most of the stairwell. I'm watching it right now, and I don't see anything interesting. I just wish the camera's position was different, so that I could see out the front door. Hey! Somebody's online!" Kuroko took a deep breath, sure enough his mouth was dry.

"I will go and bring some water for you, Kurokocchi!" Kise exclaimed, jumping up.

"Eh, no way, I will bring some to, Kuro-chin~" Murasakibara said, taking a bite of his maibou.

"Both of you are cowards. I am the one who can go alone, nanodayo." Midorima said, pushing up his glasses with his index and middle finger.

"Heh, like Tetsu needs some water from you all." Aomine continued chuckling to himself.

"Everyone, calm down." Akashi told them. "I know, that, even for Tetsuya's sake, none of you has got enough balls to go to the kitchen alone. So..." he looked at Momoi, "Satsuki, bring some water to Tetsuya."

"Y-yes!" Momoi said and before Kuroko had the time to protest, left the room.

She brought some water to the bluenette and Kuroko took it, "Thank you, Momoi-san, but you really didn't have to go there, because of me." He said, before drinking.

"No worries, Tetsu-kun. If anything, I was glad, I had to be the one, bringing you the water."

"Um..." Kuroko delayed the glass. "I got out an older, less functional webcam that I had in my closet to video chat with my friend online. I couldn't really explain to him why I wanted to video chat, but it felt good to see another person's face. He couldn't talk very long, and we didn't talk about anything meaningful, but I feel much better. My strange fear has almost passed. I would feel completely better, but there was something... odd... about our conversation. I know that I've said that everything has seemed odd, but... still, he was very vague in his responses. I can't recall one specific thing that he said... no particular name, or place, or event... but he did ask for my email address to keep in touch. Wait, I just got an email.

I'm about to go out. I just got an email from Ayama-san, that asked me to meet her for dinner at _'the place we usually go to.'_ I do love pizza, and I've just been eating random food from my poorly stocked fridge for days, so I can't wait. Again, I feel ridiculous about the odd couple of days I've been having. I should destroy this journal when I get back. Oh, another email.

Oh my god. I almost left the email and opened the door. I almost opened the door. I almost opened the door, but I read the email first! It was from a friend I hadn't heard from in a long time, and it was sent to a huge number of emails that must have been every person he had saved in his address list. It had no subject, and it said, simply:

"_see with your own eyes don't trust them they_"

What the hell is that supposed to mean? The words shock me, and I keep going over and over them. Is it a desperate email sent just as... something happened? The words are obviously cut off without finishing! On any other day I would have dismissed this as spam from a computer virus or something, but the words... seen with your own eyes! I can't help but read over this journal and think back on the last few days and realize that I have not seen another person with my own eyes or talked to another person face to face. The webcam conversation with my friend was so strange, so vague, so... eerie, now that I think about it. Was it eerie? Or is the fear clouding my memory? My mind toys with the progression of events I've written here, pointing out that I have not been presented with one single fact that I did not specifically give out unsuspectingly. The random 'wrong number' that got my name and the subsequent strange return call from Amy, the friend that asked for my email address... I messaged him first when I saw him online! And then I got my first email a few minutes after that conversation! Oh my god! That phone call with Ayama-san! I said over the phone – I said that I was within half an hour's walk of Seventh Street! They know I'm near there! What if they're trying to find me?! Where is everyone else? Why haven't I seen or heard anyone else in days?

No, no, this is crazy. This is absolutely crazy. I need to calm down. This madness needs to end." Kuroko took a sip of water.

"I don't know what to think. I ran about my apartment furiously, holding my cell phone up to every corner to see if it got a signal through the heavy walls. Finally, in the tiny bathroom, near one ceiling corner, I got a single bar. Holding my phone there, I sent a text message to every number in my list. Not wanting to betray anything about my unfounded fears, I simply sent:

You have seen anyone face to face lately?

At that point, I just wanted any reply back. I didn't care what the reply was, or if I embarrassed myself. I tried to call someone a few times, but I couldn't get my head up high enough, and if I brought my cell phone down even an inch, it lost signal. Then I remembered the computer, and rushed over to it, instant messaging everyone online. Most were idle or away from their computer. Nobody responded. My messages grew more frantic, and I started telling people where I was and to stop by in person for a host of barely passable reasons. I didn't care about anything by that point. I just needed to see another person!

I also tore apart my apartment looking for something that I might have missed; some way to contact another human being without opening the door. I know it's crazy, I know it's unfounded, but what if? WHAT IF? I just need to be sure! I taped the phone to the ceiling in case.

**Tuesday**

THE PHONE RANG! Exhausted from last night's rampage, I must have fallen asleep. I woke up to the phone ringing, and ran into the bathroom, stood on the toilet, and flipped open the phone taped to the ceiling. It was Ayama-san, and I feel so much better. She was really worried about me, and apparently had been trying to contact me since the last time I talked to her. She's coming over now, and, yes, she knows where I am without me telling her. I feel so embarrassed. I am definitely throwing this journal away before anyone sees it. I don't even know why I'm writing in it now. Maybe it's just because it's the only communication I've had at all since… god knows when. I look like hell, too. I looked in the mirror before I came back in here. My eyes are sunken, and I just look generally unhealthy.

My apartment is trashed, but I'm not going to clean it up. I think I need someone else to see what I've been through. These past few days have NOT been normal. I am not one to imagine things. I know I have been the victim of extreme probability. I probably missed seeing another person a dozen times. I just happened to go out when it was late at night, or the middle of the day when everyone was gone. Everything's perfectly fine, I know this now. Plus, I found something in the closet last night that has helped me tremendously: a television! I set it up just before I wrote this, and it's on in the background. Television has always been an escape for me, and it reminds me that there's a world beyond these dingy brick walls.

I'm glad Ayama-san's the only one that responded to me after last night's frantic pestering of everyone I could contact. She has been my best friend for years. She doesn't know it, but I count the day that I met her among one of the few moments of true happiness in my life. I remember that warm summer day fondly. It seems a different reality from this dark, rainy, lonely place. I feel like I spent days sitting in that playground, much too old to play, just talking with her and hanging around doing nothing at all. I still feel like I can go back to that moment sometimes, and it reminds me that this damn place is not all that there is... finally, a knock on the door!

I thought it was odd that I couldn't see her through the camera I hid between the two soda machines. I figured that it was bad positioning, like when I couldn't see out the front door. I should have known. I should have known! After the knock, I yelled through the door jokingly that I had a camera between the soda machines, because I was embarrassed myself that I had taken this paranoia so far. After I did that, I saw her image walk over to the camera and look down at it. She smiled and waved.

'Hey!' she said to the camera brightly, giving it a wry look.

'It's weird, I know,' I said into the microphone attached to my computer. 'I've had a weird few days.'

"Must have," she replied. "Open the door, Tetsuya."

I hesitated. How could I be sure?

'Hey, humor me a second here,' I told her through the mic. "Tell me one thing about us. Just prove to me you're you."

She gave the camera a weird look.

'Um, alright,' she said slowly, thinking. "We met randomly at a playground when we were both way too old to be there?"

I sighed deeply as reality returned and fear faded. God, I hab been so ridiculous. Of course it was Ayama-san! That day wasn't anywhere in the world except in my memory. I'd never even mentioned it to anyone, not out of embarrassment, but out of a strange secret nostalgia and a longing for those days to return. If there was some unknown force at work trying to trick me, as I feared, there was no way they could know about that day.

'...Alright, I'll explain everything,' I told her. 'Be right there.'

I ran to my small bathroom and fixed my hair as best I could. I looked like hell, but she would understand. Snickering at my own unbelievable behavior and the mess I had made of the place, I walked to the door. I put my hand on the doorknob and gave the mess one last look. So ridiculous, I thought. My eyes traced over the half-eaten food lying on the ground, the overflowing trash bin, and the bed I'd tipped to the side looking for... God knows what. I almost turned to the door and opened it, but my eyes fell on one last thing: the old webcam, the one I used for that eerily vacant chat with my friend.

Its silent black sphere lay haphazardly tossed to the side, its lens pointed at the table where this journal lay. An overwhelming terror took me as I realized that if something could see through that camera, it would have seen what I just wrote about that day. I asked her for any one thing about us, and she chose the only thing in the world that I thought they or it did not know... but it did! It did know! It could have been watching me the WHOLE time!

I didn't open the door. I screamed. I screamed in uncontrollable terror. I stomped on the old webcam on the floor. The door shook, and the doorknob tried to turn, but I didn't hear Ayama-san's voice through the door. Was the basement door, made to keep out drafts, too thick? Or was Ayama-san not outside? What could have been trying to get in, if not her? What the hell is out there?! I saw her on my computer through the camera outside, I heard her on the speakers through the camera outside, but was it real?! How can I know?! She's gone now – I screamed, and shouted for help! I piled up everything in my apartment against the front door –

**Friday**

At least I think that it's Friday. I broke everything electronic. I smashed my computer to pieces. Every single thing on there could have been accessed by network access, or worse, altered. I'm a programmer, I know. Every little piece of information I gave out since this started – my name, my email, my location – none of it came back from outside until I gave it out. I've been going over and over what I wrote. I've been pacing back and forth, alternating between stark terror and overpowering disbelief. Sometimes I'm absolutely certain some phantom entity is dead set on the simple goal of getting me to go outside. Back to the beginning, with the phone call from Ayama-san, she was effectively asking me to open the door and go outside.

I keep running through it in my head. One point of view says I've acted like a madman, and all of this is the extreme convergence of probability – never going outside at the right times by pure luck, never seeing another person by pure chance, getting a random nonsense email from some computer virus at just the right time. The other point of view says that extreme convergence of probability is the reason that whatever's out there hasn't gotten me already. I keep thinking: I never opened the window on the third floor. I never opened the front door, until that incredibly stupid stunt with the hidden camera after which I ran straight to my room and slammed the door. I haven't opened my own solid door since I flung open the front door of the building. Whatever's out there – if anything's out there – never made an 'appearance' in the building before I opened the front door. Maybe the reason it wasn't in the building already was that it was elsewhere getting everyone else... and then it waited, until I betrayed my existence by trying to call Amy... a call which didn't work, until it called me and asked me my name...

Terror literally overwhelms me every time I try to fit the pieces of this nightmare together. That email – short, cut off – was it from someone trying to get word out? Some friendly voice desperately trying to warn me before it came? Seen with my own eyes, don't trust them – exactly what I've been so suspicious of. It could have masterful control of all things electronic, practicing its insidious deception to trick me into coming outside. Why can't it get in? It knocked on the door – it must have some solid presence... the door... the image of those doors in the upper hallway as guardian monoliths flashes back in my mind every time I trace this path of thoughts. If there is some phantom entity trying to get me to go outside, maybe it can't get through doors. I keep thinking back over all the books I've read or movies I've seen, trying to generate some explanation for this. Doors have always been such intense foci of human imagination, always seen as wards or portals of special importance. Or perhaps the door is just too thick? I know that I couldn't bash through any of the doors in this building, let alone the heavy basement ones. Aside from that, the real question is, why does it even want me? If it just wanted to kill me, it could do it any number of ways, including just waiting until I starve to death. What if it doesn't want to kill me? What if it has some far more horrific fate in store for me? God, what can I do to escape this nightmare?!

A knock on the door..." Kuroko took another sip of the water and Murasakibara's, Aomine's and Kise's mind turned into a dirty one.

"I told the people on the other side of the door I need a minute to think and I'll come out. I'm really just writing this down so I can figure out what to do. At least this time I heard their voices. My paranoia – and yes, I recognize I'm being paranoid – has me thinking of all sorts of ways that their voices could be faked electronically. There could be nothing but speakers outside, simulating human voices. Did it really take them three days to come talk to me? Ayama-san is supposedly out there, along with two policemen and a psychiatrist. Maybe it took them three days to think of what to say to me – the psychiatrist's claim could be pretty convincing, if I decided to think this has all been a crazy misunderstanding, and not some entity trying to trick me into opening the door.

The psychiatrist had an older voice, authoritarian but still caring. I liked it. I'm desperate just to see someone with my own eyes! He said I have something called cyber-psychosis, and I'm just one of a nationwide epidemic of thousands of people having breakdowns triggered by a suggestive email that 'got through somehow.' I swear he said 'got through somehow.' I think he means spread throughout the country inexplicably, but I'm incredibly suspicious that the entity slipped up and revealed something. He said I am part of a wave of 'emergent behavior', that a lot of other people are having the same problem with the same fears, even though we've never communicated.

That neatly explains the strange email about eyes that I got. I didn't get the original triggering email. I got a descendant of it - my friend could have broken down too, and tried to warn everyone he knew against his paranoid fears. That's how the problem spreads, the psychiatrist claims. I could have spread it, too, with my texts and instant messages online to everybody I know. One of those people might be melting down right now, after being triggered by something I sent them, something they might interpret any way that they want, something like a text saying seen anyone face to face lately? The psychiatrist told me that he didn't want to 'lose another one', that people like me are intelligent, and that's our downfall. We draw connections so well that we draw them even when they shouldn't be there. He said it's easy to get caught up in paranoia in our fast paced world, a constantly changing place where more and more of our interaction is simulated...

I have to give him one thing. It's a great explanation. It neatly explains everything. It perfectly explains everything, in fact. I have every reason to shake off this nightmarish fear that something or consciousness or being out there wants me to open the door so it can capture me for some horrible fate worse than death. It would be foolish, after hearing that explanation, to stay in here until I starve to death just to spite the entity that might have got everyone else. It would be foolish to think that, after hearing that explanation, I might be one of the last people left alive on an empty world, hiding in my secure basement room, spiting some unthinkable deceptive entity just by refusing to be captured. It's a perfect explanation for every single strange thing I've seen or heard, and I have every reason in the world to let all of my fears go, and open the door.

That's exactly why I'm not going to.

How can I be sure?! How can I know what's real and what's deception? All of these damn things with their wires and their signals that originate from some unseen origin! They're not real, I can't be sure! Signals through a camera, faked video, deceptive phone calls, emails! Even the television, lying broken on the floor – how can I possibly know it's real? It's just signals, waves, light... the door! It's bashing on the door! It's trying to get in! What insane mechanical contrivance could it be using to simulate the sound of men attacking the heavy wood so well?! At least I'll finally see it with my own eyes... there's nothing left in here for it to deceive me with, I've ripped apart everything else! It can't deceive my eyes, can it? Seen with your own eyes don't trust them they... wait... was that desperate message telling me to trust my eyes, or warning me about my eyes too?! Oh my god, what's the difference between a camera and my eyes? They both turn light into electrical signals – they're the same! I can't be deceived! I have to be sure! I have to be sure!

**Date Unknown**

I calmly asked for paper and a pen, day in and day out, until it finally gave them to me. Not that it matters. What am I going to do? Poke my eyes out? The bandages feel like part of me now. The pain is gone. I figure this will be one of my last chances to write legibly, as, without my sight to correct mistakes, my hands will slowly forget the motions involved. This is a sort of self-indulgence, this writing... it's a relic of another time, because I'm certain everyone left in the world is dead... or something far worse.

I sit against the padded wall day in and day out. The entity brings me food and water. It masks itself as a kind nurse, as an unsympathetic doctor. I think it knows that my hearing has sharpened considerably now that I live in darkness. It fakes conversations in the hallways, on the off chance that I might overhear. One of the nurses talks about having a baby soon. One of the doctors lost his wife in a car accident. None of it matters, none of it is real. None of it gets to me, not like she does.

That's the worst part, the part I almost can't handle. The thing comes to me, masquerading as Amy. Its recreation is perfect. It sounds exactly like Ayama-san, feels exactly like her. It even produces a reasonable facsimile of tears that it makes me feel on its lifelike cheeks. When it first dragged me here, it told me all the things I wanted to hear. It told me that she loved me, that she had always loved me, that it didn't understand why I did this, that we could still have a life together, if only I would stop insisting that I was being deceived. It wanted me to believe... no, it needed me to believe that she was real.

I almost fell for it. I really did. I doubted myself for the longest time. In the end, though, it was all too perfect, too flawless, and too real. The false Amy used to come every day, and then every week, and finally stopped coming altogether... but I don't think the entity will give up. I think the waiting game is just another one of its gambits. I will resist it for the rest of my life, if I have to. I don't know what happened to the rest of the world, but I do know that this thing needs me to fall for its deceptions. If it needs that, then maybe, just maybe, I am a thorn in its agenda. Maybe Ayama-san is still alive out there somewhere, kept alive only by my will to resist the deceiver. I hold on to that hope, rocking back and forth in my cell to pass the time. I will never give in. I will never break. I am... a hero!

The doctor read the paper the patient had scribbled on. It was barely readable, written in the shaky script of one who could not see. He wanted to smile at the man's steadfast resolve, a reminder of the human will to survive, but he knew that the patient was completely delusional.

After all, a sane man would have fallen for the deception long ago.

The doctor wanted to smile. He wanted to whisper words of encouragement to the delusional man. He wanted to scream, but the nerve filaments wrapped around his head and into his eyes made him do otherwise. His body walked into the cell like a puppet, and told the patient, once more, that he was wrong, and that there was nobody trying to deceive him." Kuroko took a deep breath, "I am done guys, have you liked it?" When no one said anything, Kuroko slightly frowned, "I see..."

"No, Tetsu! It was awesome, better than the other stories we have heard by far," he spared a glance towards Momoi and Murasakibara. "But you know, when I told you to make up a long story, I did not mean THAT long."

Kuroko blinked, "But, I thought you meant that... and I did my best to make it as long as I could."

Aomine chuckled and sit up, before ruffling the bluenette's hair.

"Tetsu-kun, it really was the best! But I am confused somehow..." Momoi pouted.

"Eeh, Momoicchi, stop being jealous!" Kise whined.

"I am not jealous, you idiot! I just am a little confused about the ending!"

"Yeah, yeah. Jealous pinkette!" Kise chuckled, when Momoi glared at him and Akashi and Midorima swore, they had just seen the annoying children fighting.

Kuroko smiled, "Thank you, Kise-kun. But I think, I understand what Momoi-san meant... sorry, I am just too tired, I can't explain anything."

"Don't be, Tetsu-kun. It's fine." Momoi smiled at him.

"Hmm... who is the next?" Aomine groaned, after lying down again.

* * *

Thanks for the reading, guys! Hope you liked it. =)

And let me know, if the little chats of GOM, while someone is telling a story bothers you. x3

Review?


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